Kreis Ottweiler Heisterstr. Area in sq. meters 2,567. From a listing of Jewish cemeteries extant in 1972, based on data from the Synagogue association of the Saar. Illingen Jewish Cemetery: Located in Kreis Ottweiler district, Saarland. The current Jewish population is 0.
The Jewish community was established on 25 January 1718. The cemetery dates from 1747 and was expanded in 1773. In 1939, the Reich took over the cemetery, insisting it be put up for sale. On 7 April 1939, the community of Illingen purchased the Illingen Jewish Cemetery and since 1949 has maintained the property. It does not own the individual plots. Other towns/villages that used this cemetery were Merchweiler, and Ottweiler. Interested in site, who may share information: SYNAGOGENGEMEINDE SAAR, phone # 68 25/409-116; 25/153; 25/156; ILLINGEN RATHSKELLER. The inactive, landmarked cemetery is controlled by Synagogengemeinde Saar, Illingen Rathskeller. No caretaker. The last known Jewish burial was 12 AUGUST 1940. Burials are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. No mass grave.
The suburban cemetery location at the crown is isolated. A sign in German marks the cemetery: "JÜDISCHE FRIEDHOF/Besuchszeiten nach vorheriger Absprache mit der Germeindeverwaltung Illingen. Tel. 068 25/409-116 409-153 409-156." Another sign is on the gate: "Betreten des Friehofs auf eingene Gefähr / Grabsteine kinnen umstirzen".
The cemetery is reached by turning directly off a public road and is open to all via a continuous rock and broken masonry wall with a locking gate. The 2567 sq. meter cemetery is divided into special sections: older graves at/on western side and newer on eastern side near the memorial. The 316 granite and sandstone tombstones date from the eighteen through twentieth centuries. There are more graves than tombstones. The tombstones are rough stones or boulders; flat shaped stones; finely smoothed and inscribed stones; flat stones with carved relief decoration; double tombstones; sculpted monuments; flat, low in-ground plaques; and obelisks. The carved relief inscriptions on tombstones are in Hebrew and German. The cemetery contains special memorial monuments to Holocaust victims.
The present owner of the cemetery property is the municipality and is now used for Jewish cemetery purposes only. Properties adjacent to the cemetery are residential. Visits to the cemetery are rare visits by private visitors. The cemetery is known to have been vandalized between 50 and 10 years ago and occasionally in the last ten years. Past maintenance: re-erecting stones, clearing vegetation, and repairing wall by Jewish congregation: Jewish Community of Saarbrucken: Illigen Rathskeller, local or municipal authorities. No current care. No structures. · _3_Vandalism (destruction/defacement of stones/graves) is a moderate treat. While uncontrolled access-security and weather erosion are serious threats. The vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a seasonal problem.
Bonnie Zeisler Frederics, 2820 W. Chalfont Drive, Tucson, AZ 85742, (520) 544-0838. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. completed the survey on 10 March 2007 and requested that her contact information be posted. Other documentation exists but was not used because grave locations are not valid in other documentation and did not match up with her survey. (LAGERBUCH uber bie GRABSTATTEN und BEGRABNISSE bes ARCHIVES zu ILLINGEN)
She visited the site on April 26, May 1, and May 3, 2006 and photographed all the graves and donated the burial list and plot map to the JOWBR. . Those marked only in Hebrew are currently being translated to English by the JOWBR and the rest have been entered into the template for posting on the JOWBR website. Please note: 1. Many of the tombstones had inscription plates that are no longer there, making those buried therein unknown. 2. In the book "Die Jüdische Gemeinde zu Illingen" by Otto Nauhauser, there is a section for the cemetery burials entitled "Lagerbuch". It denotes burials from around 1870 to 1940. However, the locations described in the book are different from those that I found. In some instances, the book relates that a husband and wife are buried rows apart and yet I found them with a double headstone in a double grave. I do not know Mr. Nauhauser's source for the Lagerbuch, so the data I have provided would be as of the date I was there. Possibly over time, due to weather, vandalism and assorted other reasons, the graves were moved around, but there are burials plots that conflict by many rows apart. Perhaps the Synagogue Association of the Saar would be able to explain the discrepancies. 3. Many of the older tombstones are beginning to crumble and are weather-worn. They are made from local sandstone and will probably be gone within a couple of years. I tried doing a pencil rub on one stone and it started to crumble, so I stopped and did not do any of the others in the same condition. I do not know if anything can be done to preserve them, but that is the most important maintenance that needs to be done at that cemetery. The grounds are very well kept.[March 2007]